I've been taking a look at Gan's character and I discover that I really like him. He's the true voice of conscience on the ship. I would have liked to see more of him. It's too bad he didn't really come into his own until Shadow and PP.

This is a little conversation between Avon and Gan. Spoilers for Pressure Point. And some dialogue borrowed from Shadow, Time Squad and Star One.

Gan: Avon, Blake isn't listening.

Avon: Does he ever?

Gan: He does listen to us.

Avon: Does he really? Try saying something he doesn't want to hear or refuse to do what he wants.

Gan: What do you mean?

Avon: An experiment, for your edification. Tell him you refuse to go to Earth and attack Control because it's too dangerous. He's going to get us all killed.

Gan: But he's promised us he wouldn't. We're just going to scout the outer perimeter defences. We won't even be in scanner range of Earth defences.

Avon: And you believe that?

Gan: I do.

Avon: Then you're a fool. (Avon turns to leave but turns around, a sliver of sarcasm in his eyes) Why did all of you demand that Blake promise he wouldn't lead you on a suicide mission to make a pointless gesture? Is it because you believe in him?

Gan: Blake is passionate.

Avon (with a sneer): Another word for obsessed beyond reason.

Gan: He doesn't think things through sometimes.

Avon: Try all the time. One of these days his fanaticism and inability to think will get us all killed.

Gan: That's all you care about isn't it?

Avon: That he will get all of uskilled? (with a knowing smile) Isn't that why you forced him to make the promise? Blake's idea of destroying the Federation is to get all of us killed in the process. Dying hardly constitutes winning.

Gan: Then we'll help him see other ways.

Avon (scoffs): With Blake, there is only one way. His.

Gan: You really hate him don't you?

Avon: When this is over, I am done. I am finished. I want to be free. Following Blake requires a level of stupidity, I have not been capable of in a long time.

Gan: Then why are you still here?

Avon: Certainly not by choice. Blake can do whatever he wants. Stir up a thousand revolutions. Wade in blood up to his armpits.

Gan: That doesn't sound like Blake.

Avon: Have you forgotten the Terra Nostra and Shadow? Or has that conveniently escaped your memory?

Gan (hems): Blake needs to win.

Avon: And to achieve that he is willing to do anything. Become like the Terra Nostra. Become like the Federation.

Gan: He's trying to destroy the Federation but…he shouldn't have tried to work with the Terra Nostra or tried to be a drug pusher.

Avon: I'm surprised you're agreeing to help him destroy Control.

Gan: But we're not. He promised us we weren't going anywhere near Earth. He knows its suicide. No one in two hundred years has been able to do it. Not massive rocket attacks from space, not ground assaults. Every kind of attack has been thrown against it and they've all failed.

Avon: And you think a little thing like suicide and getting us all killed will stop Blake? That is why you forced him to promise that he won't, isn't it? We should use Control. Not destroy it.

Gan: I don't know, all that power…

Avon: And you think killing hundreds of millions of Blake's rabble is the better solution?

Gan: But… (his eyes open wide) I didn't think…

Avon: That's no surprise.

Gan: That would make us murderers. Of innocent people.

Avon: And you think that matters to Blake? He is only concerned with winning, with tearing out the heart of the Federation even if it means wading in the blood of others to do it. Yours and anyone else's he can use.

Gan: But he's promised us not to go near Earth. That means we won't be destroying Control. We won't be killing all those people.

Avon: You're a fool if you think Blake's promises can be trusted.

Gan: We have to stop him. Make him see reason.

Avon: Blake and reason, do not belong in the same sentence.

Gan: Are you going to help him destroy Control?

Avon: If only to rid myself of him. If we succeed, if we destroy Control, the Federation will be at its weakest. It will be more vulnerable than it has been for centuries. The revolt in the Outer Worlds will grow. The resistance movements on Earth will launch an all-out attack to destroy the Federation. They will need unifying. They will need a leader. Blake will be the natural choice.

Gan: And what do you get out of this?

Avon: The ship and my freedom.

Gan: Avon, I don't want to destroy Control. Not if it means killing a lot of innocent people.

I think Gan was a good, kind, and altruistic man, offering to give his life for the others in 'Bounty' and doing so in 'Pressure Point'. I have no idea why some people think he's a psychopath. Psychos don't have ethics, or care about anyone but themselves.

A limiter limits though; it doesn't add behaviours that weren't there before, like generosity and empathy. The whole psycho Gan thing creeps me out, and much comes from the authors of Liberation who seem to put themselves out to have eccentric theories. I like the book for facts, like cast lists and dates, not their weird and often cynical and nasty ideas. And anyway, the BBC's own publicity called Gan a gentle giant.

Yup, I agree about the limiter. I'm of the opinion that when it malfunctioned, it may have played with his brain a bit, making him more like a crimmo. The limiter wouldn't have given him the good impulses, it would have only limited any ability to do permanent harm.

I always figured that when the limiter malfunctioned it destroyed his reasoning ability at the same time as it caused him great pain. So his violence wasn't anything to do with personality, rather an animal reaction to agony.

In someone else a malfunctioning limiter may have made them run in blind panic, or go catatonic.